The present invention relates to a new and improved construction of apparatus for separating liquid and solid materials from one another, especially for removing juice from agricultural products, in particular from fruit, which apparatus is of the type comprising a rotatably mounted press container subdivided by a substantially hood-shaped press or squeezing diaphragm into a pressure compartment and a squeezing compartment, wherein the pressure compartment possesses an inlet arrangement for a pressurized fluid medium and the squeezing compartment a juice outlet arrangement.
With conventional piston presses the press container can be provided at its entire outer surface and, of course, also at its one end face with perforations, and the container wall is extensively part of the juice outlet arrangement. The same is also the case for an apparatus which has become known to the art from German Pat. No. 1,001,589, for squeezing fruit or the like, wherein a hose-shaped press bag, replacing the press piston, and extending along the axis of the container, is surrounded by a filter jacket or shell, in other words, an outer surface or jacket which without limitation is pervious to the juice and in its entirety forms part of the juice outlet arrangement.
With an apparatus of the previously mentioned type, such as disclosed, for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,538,403, the part of the container wall which is covered by the hood-shaped press or squeezing diaphragm is completely lost for use as the juice outlet arrangement. As an obvious compensation for such loss is to increase the density of the perforations at the container wall bounding the squeezing or press compartment and/or to increase the pressing or squeezing pressure.